The day I stopped singing in the shower

Epilogue (I)

ACE'S POV

Nine months later

"What?" I groaned.

"Woah, someone woke up grumpy today." I heard my best friend say in an amused tone.

"Wh- what time is it?" I cracked an eye open and looked around my room a little confused, then glanced at Luca with a frown.

"Dude, you've been sleeping all day. It's 6 pm already. Come on," he clapped his hands, "take a shower and dress yourself up, we're going out."

"No thanks, not in the mood." I closed my eyes again and hid under the covers.

"But it's Friday, Ace! Friday, Friday! Gotta get down on Fridayyy!" He started singing out loud and let me tell you, it's not his biggest talent.

"Bro, shut the fuck up." I said suppressing a laugh and throwing him a pillow. I groaned and sat down against the headboard, rubbing my face with both hands. "It's all we've been doing for the past few weeks, going out."

"Well, you've also been studying like crazy, you deserve a break." He took the pillow that he dodged so well from the floor and sat down on my bed.

"Yeah well, I'm sick of it."

"Man, come on. It's good for you, you know. Clear your head a bit, meet new people." He grinned.

"I've already met too many people this year."

I was referring to my new classmates from medical school. That's all I'd been thinking for the past months, I focused on studying, getting good grades and working out. However, Luca and the rest of my friends insisted on me going out every fucking weekend of the past few weeks and it was fine at the beginning, but I didn't enjoy it anymore.

After coming back from Italy that summer, I thought I was doing okay again, that I could move on. I thought that spending time with my family out of this country would help me. I was wrong. Everything reminded me of her. My room, my car, my favorite restaurants, the club... My phone was full of pictures of her, I still had her clothes in my closet. I watched a movie and I missed her chatting, her jokes... And along with that, her body. Because, you know. We were never good at watching movies together.

Even my little sisters asked me about her sometimes. She was travelling, I would say.

"But we miss her!"

I miss her too, I would think to myself.

Luca cleared his throat. "Yeah... uh, I was referring to girls, you know?" I could tell he was being careful with his words. "Maybe you could meet someone new, have a little fun..."

"I don't need to meet anybody, I'm fine, thank you very much." I said sharply getting up from the bed.

"Where are you going?" He asked following me.

"Shower." I grabbed the bathroom's doorknob and turned to look at him. "Why? Do you wanna join?"

"That does mean we're going out?" He asked excitedly.

"Yeah, but no girls, okay?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

He twisted his mouth looking innocent.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose as I closed my eyes. "Luca, what have you done?"

"Okay, don't get mad." He raised both hands. "We're going out with Sam's girlfriend and her friends, do you remember Lucy? Well, she likes you and I told her-"

"No."

"But-"

"No." I raised my voice as I shook my head. "I'm going out with you guys, but I'm not treating her in any special way, I don't want to meet anybody, and I'm serious Luca," I pointed at him warningly, "I'm not ready."